September 6th Andoh v Saitoh - Tigers win

This win was greeted with more of a sense of relief than anything else. Certainly it was a big win - the Magic Number switched back on again as the Giants lost - it is now 22 (CM is 15). The games between Tigers and Giants also increased for the first time since the Tigers beat the Giants last to 4.5. The game took 12 innings but the Tigers haven't lost an extra innings game since April and it was an error ridden affair. Line scores

       1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 R  H E
Tigers 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0  0  0  2 5 10 3
Carp   0 0 1 0 2 0 0 0 0  0  0  0 3  9 1

Starting lineups

1. Akahoshi (Centre)
2. Hirano (Second)
3. Sakurai (Right)
4. Kanemoto (Left)
5. Toritani (Short)
6. Sekimoto (First)
7. Yano (Catcher)
8. Baldris (Third)
9. Andoh (Pitcher)

Carp
1. Higashide (Second)
2. Akamatsu (Centre)
3. Amaya (Left)
4. Kurihara (First)
5. Shima (Right)
6. Kida (Third)
7. Ishihara (Catcher)
8. Soyogi (Short)
9. Saitoh (Pitcher)

Tigers start would be a good one. Akahoshi walked and was bunted to second by Hirano. Sakurai struck out but Kanemoto hit and Akahoshi was home 1-0 Tigers. It was nice to see him do something for a change. Toritani grounded out and the innings ended. Andoh gave up a two out hit to Amaya but then retired Kurihara to end the innings. Sekimoto led of Tigers second by taking the second pitch he received deep for a solo home run 2-0 Tigers. Baldris made first on an error and was bunted to second by Andoh but Akahoshi grounded out and the innings finished. Carp's second was quiet with the batters retiring in order. Hirano then tried a bunt hit to start the Tigers third and this came off. Sakurai and Toritani both walked to load the bases sandwiching Kanemoto's strike out. Sekimoto was next but this time he hit into a double play and the innings was over. Carp hit back in the bottom of the third. Soyogi led off with a hit. He was bunted to second by Saitoh and then moved up to third on Higashide's flyout to left. Akamatsu hit driving him in 2-1 Tigers and then Amaya laid down a bunt hit which Andoh messed up - runners on first and second. Kurihara again grounded out and the innings was over. Tigers fourth was quiet but in Carp's fourth Andoh walked Kida. However, nothing came of this and the score remained the same.

Tigers fifth was quiet but Carp's was anything but. Saitoh struck out looking (well he is the pitcher) but Higashide hit. He was followed by Akamatsu hitting to set up runners on first and second. Amaya struck out but then Kurihara hit driving in a run. An incompetent bit of fielding by Sakurai saw another run scored 3-2 Carp. With Kurihara on second Shima walked but Kida grounded out and the innings was over. Tigers bounced back immediatley in the sixth. With one out Toritani hit which brought about a change of pitcher, Hayato Aoki taking the mound. Toritani moved up to second on Sekimoto's ground out and stole third - a rare steal for him and a nice piece of work. Yano then hit to left driving him in 3-3 scores level. This brought Takahiro Aoki to the mound (yes, Carp have two Aoki's on their pitching staff) and he got the final out. Andoh's sixth saw a hit to Soyogi but nothing came of this. Tigers seventh was quiet with the side retiring in order.

Atchison pitched the Carp seventh. He walked Amaya who stole second but Atchison got the final out and the Carp did not progress. Tigers eighth was quiet everyone grounding out. This was also the case for the Carp's eighth with Atchison striking out the final two batters looking - very nice pitching. Tigers ninth was pitched by Umetsu who retired the batters 1-2-3. Fujikawa was summoned for the Carp's ninth. With two out he walked Akamatsu who promptly tried to steal second and was thrown out for his trouble - end of innings. Yano's throwing has improved immeasurably. Tigers tenth was not Nagakawa's greatest innings but he had enough. He gave up a lead off hit to Fujimoto (replacement third) who was bunted to second by Akahoshi. Hirano walked but Hiyama (replacement right) rounded out. This did move the runners round to second and third. Nagakawa then walked Kanemoto to load the bases which brought up Toritani. He grounded out and that chance was wasted. Carp's 10th saw Fujikawa walk Shima with two out but he got the final out and the action moved to the 11th. Okada had hoped that Tigers would engineer a 10th innings victory but they would need more time.

Ueno pitched the Tigers eleventh and gave up a hit to Lin (pinch hitter). Fujimoto this time, flew out to end the innings. Kubota took over from Fujikawa and you began to get a bit nervous. He gave up a lead off hit to Ishihara and he was bunted to second by Soyogi. Seabol struck out and then Higashide was walked which brought up Ogata (pinch hitter). He flew out and the innings was over. For Tigers 12th Brown chose Ohshima. He didn't do well - firstly he gave up a hit to Akahoshi who then advanced to second on a Hirano bunt. Hiyama flew out but moved Akahoshi round to third. Kanemoto was walked and was able to make second. Once again Toritani was at the plate with runners in scoring positions and two out. This time he made no mistake hitting to left and driving both runners home 5-3 Tigers. Sekimoto hit to put runners on first and second but Yano flew out and the innings was over. Kubota was once again the pitcher and performed very well (one wishes he could be this consistent most of the time). Amaya made first on a Toritani error but then was caught up in a Kurihara double play. The final batters Suenaga (replacement left) struck out and the game was over - Tigers victory.

A good hard fought victory. Tigers fans chanted 'Okada! Okada!' in acknowledgement of the victory but it needs to be built on. Tigers should use the game to generate momentum and to string a series of wins together. It needs to be more than a flash in the pan but rather the start of a pennant victory drive.